Shortages, summits and submissions

HVIA Chief Executive Todd Hacking will attend the Government’s Transport Jobs and Skills Roundtable in Sydney tomorrow.

The Labor Government’s new Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, the Hon Catherine King MP is hosting the discussions, towards identifying and addressing critical skills shortages across the freight sector, particularly in regional and remote Australia.

The forum will in turn inform the Prime Minister’s highly anticipated Jobs and Skills Summit next week.

“We have been engaging with Government extensively on these issues,” Mr Hacking said. “Including reiterating how vital our industry is to Australia’s resilience and sovereignty – a key focus from the Labor Party’s election campaign.

“We hope that the Government will follow through on its promises to turn these high-level meetings into tangible actions; not just long-term strategies and well-meaning statements of intent.

“That includes skilled migration, which is one crucial pathway that needs urgent action.

“When we are invited to participate, Government asks us what we are doing as an industry to help ourselves; what are our strategies to recruit, train and retain people from across all parts of the community.

“HVIA’s National Awards exist entirely for this purpose; they encourage our members to showcase standout innovation and performance from your companies, teams and the talented and committed individuals amongst them.”

There are five award categories:

• Product Innovation
• Safety Innovation
• Community Leadership
• Apprentice of the Year
• The Peter Langworthy Future Leader Award. 

“The nomination process is not arduous, but it is very rewarding,” Mr Hacking said.

Nominations close Friday 9 September 2022.

The Southern Region finalists (Vic, Tas, SA) will be conferred at a special HVIA Executive Club function at the Energy Australia head office in Melbourne on Thursday, 20^th of October.

The national awards will then be presented at a gala dinner at the Emporium Hotel South Bank in Brisbane on Friday 25 November 2022.